Completely Stumped

Greetings.

My husband has congestive heart failure.  He was diagnosed with it over a year ago.  It literally came out of nowhere, meaning we are not sure what the cause is.  He has been given an array of medications, but the two that work best for him are carvedilol and lasix.  The amount of lasix he was given is 40mg, but it is to the point that the dosage is definitely not enough-not even for maintenance.  
He also has edema and high blood pressure.  His edema is the topic in question today.  The doctor has been great, but he is urging surgery which is against our religion.  My husband recently has "blown up" in size.  His normal weight is 165, and when this particular thing happened, he weighed 225, and his balls weighed 40lbs.  It was very scary, and we had to take things one day at a time.  This is particularly curious because he and I are vegan's.  The doctor will not increase the dosage, so instead of him taking one a day, I had him take 4 each for 2 days.  I did my research on the medication (lasix) and found out it came down to the electrolytes.  The medication depletes them all, so I had him reinforcing with pedialyte.  And would you know he dropped almost all of the weight and went back down to 180 stably.  He maintains 180 as I have not pulled a stunt like that since, but he will not lose the rest of the weight which is in his stomach, his pelvis, and his legs.  Also, thank goodness, his lungs are not affected as far as water goes, but strangely his bladder is.  
The doctor diagnosed TED's embolism stockings for him which worked good, but the fluid leaves and one of his legs is almost skeletal while the other shows no progress and that is with elevation.  Please Help.

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
How is your husband? Heart failure is usually the result of poor cardiac function and is reflected by a decreased volume of blood pumped out by the heart. The diminished volume of blood pumped out by the heart is responsible for a decreased flow of blood to the kidneys. As a result, the kidneys retain salt and water, thinking that the body needs to retain more fluid volume when, in fact, the body is holding too much fluid. This results to build up of fluid in the lungs causing the shortness of breath.
At the same time, accumulation of fluid in the legs causes pitting edema. Leg edema occurs because the build-up of blood in the veins of the legs causes leakage of fluid  into the interstitial spaces. It is important that he follows his medication and you monitor his weight regularly. Weight gain can be a sign that he is retaining fluid and that the heart failure is worsening. You will have follow up appointments at least every 3 to 6 months and tests to check your heart function. I hope this helps. Take care and do keep us posted.